BipCoin will have a maximum of 18,446,744.07370955 coins (18 million +, divisible down to 12 digits).
(Bitcoin has a maximum of 20999999.9769 BTC – Just under 21 million)

Tiny premine: 0.1 percent. That’s about 3/2500th of total supply.

And yes, we found and dealt with that public key in the CryptoNote core. We zeroed (and 1ed; and 2ned….for Bender) it. It is now
P2P_STAT_TRUSTED_PUB_KEY[] = “0101010101010101010101010101010102010101010101010101010101010101″;

But we also deactivated debug commands by just returning false on the check for authorization.

A terrestrial radio show + podcast, with fans salivating to mine and use BipCoin in trade, and to “tell two friends….”

Far more important than all that is what’s under the hood: the CryptoNote-based differences that BipCoin has from all the AltCoins based on Bitcoin (and Litecoin):

Untraceable payments

Unlinkable transactions

Blockchain analysis resistance

Egalitarian proof of work – can mine on ASICs, but also on ordinary computers. Closer to Satoshi’s vision.

Adaptive limits

Adapted from Bytecoin which is derived from CryptoNote. Over 98% of all other coins are derived from Bitcoin.

Q. Didn’t BipCoin shut down at some point?
A. Yeah, but there was only one programmer back then and he just got too busy. We came back with a much stronger tech team. The events are explained in detail here.

Q. What the hell does “Beastlick” mean?
A. It’s a town name. Sort of. Explained fully in the BipCot.org FAQ here.

Q. Was BipCoin pre-mined?
A. Barely. We mined 1/10th of 1% of total coin. Mostly just for testing the network. Some for bounties and faucet. But also to put the first tiny bit in our pockets and spread around to our friends. Because “why not”?

Q. Is BipCoin open source?
A. Our source code is on GitHub, here. As per the BipCot NoGov license, as long as you’re not a government or government agent, you are free to view, study, use, reuse and modify the program and the source as long as you credit us and credit CryptoNote. Governments and government agents would agree to be shamed by clicking “I agree” when executing the license. Governments and government agents would agree to be shamed by using or even looking at the software even without agreeing, because…reasons.

However, according to The Open Source Initiative (which is pretty much the accepted overseeing body on what is and what is not to be called “Open Source”), to be considered open source: “The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources.”

By using the BipCot license, we “restrict” governments and government agents from even looking at the code, and the “penalty” is being shamed. By name.

And the Open Source Initiative has actually weighed in on Twitter saying that the BipCot license is NOT an open source license:

Q. Why is the default peer-to-peer port 18870?
A. It’s the first five numbers of Ross Ulbricht‘s prisoner number. We don’t do anything illegal, but we do think he got an incredibly raw deal. Whatever “crime” he committed wasn’t really a crime because it had no victim. No victim, no crime.

Q. Why do you use the word “crypto” instead of “cryptocurrency” or “coin” in your logo? Don’t you know that’s kinda like, um, noobish and stuff? And don’t you know there’s diseases called “crypto”, dude??? Caused by some fungus, man, and not the good kind of fungus?
A. We know and we don’t care. We like calling it a crypto. And the disease thing is funny. We won’t have a viral marketing program, we will have a fungal marketing program. We also use CamelCase more than most people, in places they don’t use it. Like AltCoin. But it makes sense to us.

Q. The smallest amount of Bitcoin is a “satoshi.” What’s the smallest amount of BipCoin?
A. It’s called a “squitten.” It’s named after a mythical cross between a squirrel and a kitten. Mining BipCoin is known as “stacking mad squittens.” A squitten is one trillionth of a single BipCoin.

And “bip” is a nickname some users have organically started using for “one BipCoin.” As in “Steve Miller-Miller owes me 22 bips for the shout-out for Kensington that we read on the show.”

BipCoin, like Bitcoin, is divisible down to 12 digits. So BipCoin could run the economy of the world. But BipCoin could run that and also the economy of those possibly inhabitable planets near Alpha-Centauri. (More on our take on THAT plan, here. And here.)

0.123 123 mili-BipCoins mBIP

0.000456 456 micro-BipCoins µBIP

0.000000789 788 nano-BipCoins nBIP

0.000000000123 123 squittens <–These are the squittens!

Q. Where did BipCoin get its name?
A. MWD, the envisioneer of BipCoin, invented the BipCot NoGov license. When it was time to make a kick-ass new coin, MWD knew it had to be covered by the BipCot license, which does not allow use by governments and government agents. So it’s sort of named after BipCot, and also a hat-tip to the word “Bitcoin.” But BipCoin is mainly named after one of MWD’s cats, BipCat, who is named after the BipCot license. BipCat is the kitty in the BipCoin logo.

Q. Cats, huh? Hmmm…so is BipCoin just a knockoff of Dogecoin?
A. Nope. BipCoin is fun, but it’s not a joke currency like Dogecoin. BipCoin is designed with security and future-proofing in mind.

Dogecoin was a cute idea, and helped spread understanding and adoption of cryptos. But Dogecoin’s unlimited supply makes it worthless outside of hobby collectors and kids.

Plus, Dogecoin was based on Luckycoin which was based on Litecoin which was based on Bitcoin.

BipCoin is based on new code, CryptoNote, which has huge advantages over coins based on Bitcoin code. (See the top of this page for more info on that, if you somehow missed it.)

You could say that “BipCoin is the Dogecoin of Dark Coins”, in that BipCoin is fun, and there isn’t another dark-by-default CryptoNote coin that’s really fun.

Q. How can you adapt something from source code covered by some other license and release it with some wacky license you just made up one day?
A. The CryptoNote code is covered by the MIT license, which is a “permissive” license. This means you can release derivations under any license you want.

Bitcoin (and anything derived from it) is covered by a non-permissive license, the GNU General Public License (GPL). The GPL has been compared to a virus, because it infects derivations to require the same license.

Choosing to use the MIT license instead of the GPL license is yet another way that the brilliant CryptoNote inventors improved on the already brilliant concept Satoshi Nakamoto had with Bitcoin.

Q. What else is covered by the BipCot NoGov license?
A. Full list is here. Mainly a lot of podcasts, art, video games, game music, and one syndicated terrestrial radio show.

Probably the most popular thing covered by BipCot so far is the app Cell 411, which basically replaces the demand for government first responders who, more often than you’d think, show up and kill you instead of helping you. In all operating systems, Cell 411 has had over 100,000 installs, and is growing fast.

Q. Will people confuse BipCoin with Bitcoin?
A. We don’t see that as possible. They’re very different. Just speak clearly when you say BipCoin.

Q. Why use a practically unenforceable “no gub’mint allowed” license?
A. In some ways, a BipCot license is more enforceable than a copyright in the age of torrents.

We hope BipCoin will be embraced by the market, but regardless, we’d like it to influence other coins to adopt the BipCot NoGov license. It’s an important improvement on all those square licenses that ride on the back of copyright. Intellectual Property laws are the horse and buggy of legal concepts.

Q. Is BipCoin legal?
A. We’re not lawyers, but short answer is likely: It’s as legal or as illegal as Bitcoin in your jurisdiction.

Damn, even that QUESTION is square. And I can’t even type the word “jurisdiction” without cringing.

BipCoin is certainly moral. Remember: no victim, no crime.

Q. Will mining BipCoin make me rich?
A. We make no promises. At all.

We recommend you do NOT invest a lot of money in BipCoin yet. Mine some, trade it with people for actual things, get used to it, enjoy it. Do small transactions with it. Nothing you couldn’t afford to lose if the market doesn’t sustain BipCoin. But help it grow. Make it and spend it. Trade it with your friends. (And tell two friends!)

Though it probably wouldn’t hurt to spend some and also sit on some, especially now while it’s easy to mine. It will get gradually harder with time.

Q. Your web design looks cheap!
A. lol, that’s not a question, but we’ll address it. BipCoin is a labor of love, not some pump-and-dump get-rich-quick coin-mill scheme. And the site, like our software, works as intended and is easy to navigate. That’s not even true of all slick corporate sites.

Q. Will you pay me to translate your wallets and website?
A. No. We don’t have money to pay you. On the date I’m writing this part (11/7/2016), the BipDev with the MOST kitties (BipCoins) has $90 US worth, if he sold it all today. We’re holding on to it. Besides, some bips will be required for PHASE TWO. (BWAHAHAH! IT’S A SECRET!)

Translations aren’t that much of a priority. That’s not ethnocentrism, that’s fact. We are only a four people, and have day jobs, make no money at this, and need to spend our energy keeping things solid. And also, people often want to be paid to translate into languages not many people speak. lol. If someone translated FREE, we probably wouldn’t bother to output the updated software unless it was one of the four most common languages (besides English). These are the five most common languages on earth. These would cover 85% of the human race.

1) Mandarin

2) Spanish

3) English (We have this one covered.)

4) Hindi/Urdu

5) Arabic

The thing is, While English is not the most common language, it is by FAR the most common second language. Most people in the earth can read enough English to install and use software documented in English. And if they can’t, Google Translate will translate close enough to their language to “get it.” Again, not ethnocentrism, just fact, as it relates to us allocating our resources.

Q. BipCoin sounds cool! But I need to know: is it on the blockchain?
A. Um….it’s on a blockchain.

Q. What are your plans for BipCoin in the future?
A. We’re considering adding DNS-type functionality. As we said above, we made MeowBit, the Dot-Bit system-wide resolver for Namecoin, and have a lot of ideas about why Namecoin failed and what could be done to fix it.

Q. The BipCoin logo is awesome! Who made it?
A. Our good friend Jim Jesus made the logo on this project. It’s an improvement on the mockup done by MWD based on the BipCot logo by Davi Barker and MWD. Oh, and the groovy music in the radio ad was composed for us by Neema Vedadi.